| Yoko Kanno – Blue Lyrics | 4 years ago |
| Having just watched the Cowboy Bebop final episode again, it\'s hard to disconnect this song and it\'s meaning from that episode. But speaking in general terms, not directly related to the storyline or to Spike, I think this song is a metaphor for the progression of life and then on to death, and an afterlife. I see the song as four distinct parts: Appreciating your life and truly feeling alive, questioning your life and what it\'s about, progressing from being alive to realizing you are in the twilight of your life and near death, and then finally dying. Those four sections are outlined below: \n\nThe blueness of the sky is a metaphor for being fully alive and fully appreciating life, perhaps after a long time of not feeling alive at all (numbness perhaps, at past pains). And then, reflection: "Asked myself what it\'s all for..." - the author looking back on their life, wondering what was the meaning of it all, what was the meaning of those trials and pain, and not being able to answer that question and pondering that thought with an air of sadness. "Things have turned a deeper shade of blue..." Like the end of a clear, sunny day, the blue sky turns darker shades of blue as one enters twilight...the author is referring to the twilight of one\'s life. \n\nIn the third section, as death/darkness approaches there\'s a point where the author straddles both life and death. "Wanna be free...and move among the stars; You know they really aren\'t so far..." - it\'s as if the author is seeing glimpses of the afterlife, and can see that the stars, and everything around them, is connected and not so far away as they seem. It\'s a beautiful realization that they yearn for. And yet, they are conflicted - "Don\'t wake me from the dream, It\'s really everything it seemed" - the "dream" is life, their life, and it really was as wonderful as they thought - they appreciate it all now, at the end.\n\nAnd finally, the fourth section - death. "Everything is clearer now, Life is just a dream, you know; that\'s never ending; I\'m ascending." In death, clarity and appreciation, and a realization that the journey continues on.\n\nIn short, I feel this song is about a transformation from life to death. It captures the realization that one has as they reflect on their life - they realize the beauty of if all - and then they reach a sense of wonder and peace about the journey towards the afterlife. "Life is a dream" because it\'s wonderous, amazing, and something that, in the end, we all "wake up" from. | |
| Nick Drake – Place To Be Lyrics | 10 years ago |
|
Like all great poetry, lyrics, or stories, the true meaning lies with the reader. But here is how I interpret it. I feel it's about going from being a young, happy, but naive person - having life complicated by love - and having that love reject you...sending you to that dark, unpleasant place of depression. I'll break it down line by line, because each line - and sometimes, each word - was written with a specific intention. "When I was young, younger than before" This line implies there was a "before and after" - something. We don't know what that something is yet, but he's reflecting back on life before some event or some change. "I never saw the truth hanging from the door" He couldn't see the truth - how something REALLY is - even though it was "hanging from the door" - in other words, right there in front of his face, where it should have been very obvious. "And now I'm older--see it face to face" The use of "face to face" is important; it implies something between two people, something very personal. Perhaps someone has just divulged some truth to him...perhaps it was something he didn't want to hear? "And now I'm older--gotta get up clean the place" This lyric puzzled me, and still sort of does, but I see it as... Now he's older, no longer young and naive, and there's so much "truth", it's creating a real mess...an all he can do is try to clean it up. Obviously mess is a metaphor in this case...perhaps a metaphor for his life, or his emotions. "And I was greener, greener than the hill" Double meaning here..."green" implies he was naive, lacked experience...but also, he was full of life. "Where flowers grew and sun shone still" ...And that state of being naive was pleasant... "Now I'm darker than the deepest sea" Very dark, dreary, no light at all - quite the opposite of warm and pleasant. "Just hand me down give me a place to be" The lyric "hand me down" implies that he's being passed...he's been "used", and is now a second-hand item. And the world has changed, and he doesn't feel like he knows his place in it. "And I was strong, strong in the sun" He "was" strong - past tense - back in that sunny, pleasant state - back in that blissful ignorance of being in love. "I thought I'd see when day is done" He always thought that blissful state would last - or that when things did turn darker, when that chapter of his life was done, he would still have the strength to be himself and to move on. But... "Now I'm weaker than the palest blue" ...that state of love and happiness is over, and now he's left feeling as sad and weak as he possibly could.... Oh so weak in this need for you And FINALLY, on the very last lyric, we get to the "why". This for me is what makes this song so powerful. We know he's lost something very great, and it's drained all sense of well being from his very soul. We can suspect it was love lost, but we don't know until the very end. It's no coincidence that this is the one lyric that is not a metaphor - it doesn't get much more direct than "Oh so weak in this need for you". For you, who are no longer here. Losing this person represents the before and after - before was happiness, after is dark sadness. And the person behind the lyrics is left with the realization that the world will never be the same again. |
|
* This information can be up to 15 minutes delayed.